Canada's Prime Minister Mark Carney said on Friday that his country will drop some of its billions of dollars in retaliatory tariffs on US goods, though it will keep levies on autos, steel and aluminium.

Canada-U.S. Trade Minister Dominic LeBlanc said the decision to drop retaliatory tariffs puts Ottawa in a better position to negotiate changes to U.S. President Donald Trump’s devastating duties on key sectors and eases tensions ahead of a review of a critical continental trade agreement.

Catherine Cobden, president and CEO of the Canadian Steel Producers Association, said Thursday that Ottawa should impose a 50 per cent retaliatory tariff on all U.S. steel, including "immediately ending the ill-advised April reprieve" American steel used in manufacturing and processing.